Today, for work, I had to visit New Braunfels, a small town only 40 miles north of San Antonio. It is a vaguely Germanic-based town. I didn’t have a lot of spare time to find a nice quaint restaurant for lunch so I ended up at Schlotzky’s. A slightly upscale sandwich chain shop.
After ordering my sandwich and sitting down at a table to wait, I was pleasantly surprised to see that everyone around me was white. Not one hispanic in the place. It was kind of weird and nice. In San Antonio, you would be hard-pressed to find another white person in the crowd. Here I was sitting among my own people. I felt a sense of belonging that I don’t often experience. As the only white guy in most places I often feel out of place.
Perhaps I’m racist. Well. No doubt I’m racist but that’s only because I feel the loss of community. Maybe you can relate to being the only white guy in a room full of black people or even the other way around. Well that’s what I experience every day.
There is something to be said about communing with your own people who have the same values customs that you do. It’s a special thing.